The Doubledays vs. the Cartwrights

In Cooperstown on July 9, 1939, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues conducted its celebration of baseball’s centennial. A brief announcement in The Sporting News of March 2 outlined what was to be the minor league’s part in the 100th anniversary year. The program was to consist of the dedication of a research library, the unveiling of several bronze tablets memorializing outstanding minor league personalities, and an all-star game.

The all-star game was to be the centerpiece of the day’s activities. The plan for the game was to have each league in the National Association — 41 in all — select one player and from this anticipated “galaxy of stars” two clubs would be organized and meet at Doubleday Field. Mike Kelley and Spencer Abbott, veteran minor league mangers, were picked to lead the two clubs, which would be named in honor of Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright.

Alas, in the months that followed, a combination of circumstances turned the game into a symbolic ritual at best and, at worst, a failure not worth repeating. What might have become an annual and exciting event with much ensuing publicity for the minor leagues, instead, became a memory for only a few.

Counting the Stars

The were several reasons for the failure of the “galaxy of stars.” The National Association’s request for players went unheeded in part because each league president had his own concept of the occasion and there was no way of enforcing the directive. The response of the high minor leagues was particularly poor. The Pacific Coast League was represented by old Dutch Ruether who happened to be in the East on a scouting trip for Los Angeles. Joe Hauser, the American Association choice, was managing a semipro club in Sheboygan that summer. The International League “player” was Benny Bengough, a Newark coach. The Southern Association sent fading veteran Bob Smith, who appeared only briefly with Chattanooga in 1939. Most absurd was the Texas League’s contribution: President J. Alvin Gardner sent a uniform, unnecessary because special uniforms were furnished for the game by sporting goods companies. Even the Canadian-American League, which ultimately gave indispensable support to the game, sent as its official representative the Ottawa manager, Wally Schang. In addition to the Texas League, 15 leagues sent no player at all.

In their defense, the league presidents had several legitimate reasons for ignoring National Association president George Trautman’s pleas. Small rosters in the lower minors created a problem of either playing shorthanded for at least a week or signing a free agent to fill the All Star’s spot. It would be difficult to persuade a club owner to do the former and, from both a talent and financial viewpoint, would not be feasible to do the latter. Clubs certainly could not be faulted for being unwilling to risk the loss of a star performer in the midst of a pennant race. Nor could league presidents be blamed for not wanting to pay the cost of sending a player to Cooperstown. Perhaps President Gardner of the Texas League spoke for all when he said: “I would like to name a player for the game, but it would mean the man selected to the team would have to lose a week or more of play and I don’t think it fair to the team or fans to send away a star for that length of time.”

Another pragmatic problem was that the expense of sending a representative had to be borne by each league. The economy of 1939 had not been restored to a level of prosperity and many struggling minor league circuits, especially those far from Cooperstown, might deem such a cost unbearable, at best frivolous.

The planning and coordination of the game also left something to be desired, which contributed to the result. The game date conflicted with several league all-star games scheduled about the same time. In fact, the East Texas League contest was played on the same date. Scheduling the game a month after the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies also may have made the minors’ celebration seem anticlimactic. And slating the minors’ game close to the major league All-Star contest many have diverted attention from, rather than attracting attention to, the former.

Finally, a lack of publicity may have had an effect. After the March announcement, The Sporting News made editorial mention of the occasion just once, and it was not until June 22 that the first player designations were announced. This was hardly designed to draw national attention to the event.

New York State to the Rescue

Despite these obstacles, and the fact that when players convened at Cooperstown in July, fully 16 leagues had failed to send representatives, the game took place as planned. That it did take place at all is due in no small measure to the contributions made by three of the four minor leagues existing in New York state, particularly the Canadian-American League. In fact, the Empire State’s involvement looms large in the overall success of the day’s events.

The Eastern League’s representative was Albany’s good-hitting catcher, Bill Jackson. Jackson, later a minor league manager, caught most of the game before giving way to a semipro player representing the Cotton States League. The PONY League, in its first year of operation, supplied Art Strott, who finished the year hitting .375. But it was the Can-Am League which came through in a big way to supply the necessary personnel to fill out both squads. As mentioned, Wally Schang, was the official representative. In addition, managers Eddie Sawyer (who hit .369 that year for Amsterdam), Elmer Yoter and Steve Yerkes played in the game and players Springer and Webb filled in. Furthermore, 11 collegians and semipros from central and western sections of the state stepped in to represent the leagues which did not send players.

Moreover, what information is most readily available about the game and the other activities of the day is due to the effort’s of Albany’s Richard Conners. Conners, now a popular a respected member of the New York State Assembly, was in 1939 and Albany sportswriter, “the voice of Hawkins Stadium,” and Eastern League correspondent for The Sporting News. In the latter capacity, he covered the game for baseball’s Bible.

Finally, the ceremonial activities had a decidedly New York state flavor. The Rev. Harold Martin of Ogdensburg, Can-Am League president, delivered the invocation. Cooperstown’s mayor, R.D. Spraker, gave the official welcome, and Cooperstown minister Wilbur Sheriff offered the benediction. Auburn native John Farrell, for many years the head of the New York State League, was honored as one of the two surviving founders of the National Association. Eastern League president Tommy Richardson served as master of ceremonies at the game. The people of Cooperstown and the surrounding area strongly supported the event, hosting, attending the game and furnishing materials for the pre-game parade.

Throughout its history, the Baseball Hall of Fame has given little recognition to the minor leagues. Perhaps the words of J.G. Taylor Spink, which appeared in an editorial in The Sporting News of April 27, 1939, are apropos: “So far, the names nominated to the Hall of Fame have a decidedly major league tinge. None whose career had been almost completely bound up with the minors had been proposed. Yet the minors have played as important a part in the propagation of the game as have the majors and should have their niche at Cooperstown.”

He continued: “If the minors are to be given places in the Hall of Fame — and there is no valid reason why they should not — then they could make no better start than by selecting their No. 1 and No. 2 distinguished figures — Mike Sexton and Tim Murnane.” The names of Murnane and Sexton were among the seven included on the bronze tablet dedicated on that day, but Spink’s lager hope remains unfilled.

In an interview a few years ago, Assemblyman Conners gave his own perspective on the all-star game. While expressing his disappointment at the failure of many leagues to send representative, he attributed it mainly to the economic factors which prohibited struggling minor leagues from financing the sending of a player. Still, Conners continues to remember the event as a “gigantic thing, even awesome,” considering the number of minor leagues from across the country which did choose to be represented.

In any event, and due to the efforts of organizations and people upstate New York, the minor leagues do have their place in baseball’s centennial celebration and, if July 9, 1939 is not one of the memorable days in baseball history, it should be noted as an occasion when, at least once, acknowledgement was made that professional baseball is also minor league baseball.

The box score from the game follows: